Sounds like things are quite busy at home. Oh it was good to hear and SEE how you are all doing. I love the pictures. Hope the funeral went well...I just love you all so much. Pass my condolences along to the rest of the family... And hey! Good luck Mom Dad, and Cate on the Trek this week! My little pioneers :) Making me so proud!
This week was wonderful--that's because I still have Sister Lawrence with me. I don't have to give her up for a few more weeks, then she will go home to the Island of Ponpay. The other sisters have dubbed us the "islanders". We love it.
On Easter we were privileged to eat with the Kemper home. Such a sweet family. They have been here for a couple decades now. They have a daughter who is our age with severe autism, but she has such a light about her. We had a sweet discussion about how the church--and Jesus Christ have influenced their lives. Then Brother Kemper, (who is the kind of man that reminds me a lot of Paul Bunyan) treated us by playing the harp. He builds them for a living! It was so beautiful. He played If You could Hie to Kolob, and Come Thou Fount. Two of my favorites. Then he surprised us once more, by pulling out some dusty bagpipes and played Praise to the Man. It was a wonderful Easter celebration, and we all felt the Spirit so strongly.
So we have been trying to visit a lot of the less active members lately, and strengthen the ward so that we can gain their trust when seeking out referrals. It helps so much when we have members present at lessons, especially when they already know the investigator and can testify, and bear witness with us. We had a lesson with a new investigator just yesterday at one of the members homes--the Sarbongs, a couple from Ghana expecting their first baby boy in a few weeks. Anyway, we found him through Kady Kortu. His name is Abdulai Samuel Kamara (also from Sierra Leone). We call him Alfred. He is so golden. So genuine, and kind, and eager to learn about the gospel. Yesterday, after discussing Joseph Smiths key role in the Restoration, he said he wanted to become a member of the church. So we gave him a b-date for April 28th to work towards. While it is a flexible date, we told him we would be there every step of the way to teach and help him progress towards taking that first significant step. We are so excited, and he is even more so!
One of the less active members we visited was a Vietnamese man in his late eighties named Pho Le, (or Le Pho, I'm not exactly sure which comes first). Anyway, he has been a member for over two decades now. Came to America before I was born, and found the church almost immediately. Or I guess the sister missionaries found him. He loved it from the start. Now we are trying to figure out how we can bring the church to him. He is extremely aged, but still miraculously walking. It was so hard to understand him because of his thick accent--not to mention his lack of teeth--but we still had a pleasant visit, and plan on returning to re-teach him some of the foundational lessons.
In other news, we went to the city with some of the other Sisters these last two p-days. Both great experiences, I'm attaching some pictures. Neat to learn about the depths of our Nation's History, and the endless archives of information here.
Anyway, got some shopping and letter writing to do. Love you all. This work is so wonderful. So real. I love it!
Love,
Sister Graff
Pictures: Specialized Training back from February.
1. Ours is better.
2. Call me Jane.
3. Zoo!
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